Influence of pitting and iron oxide formation during corrosion of carbon steel in unbuffered NaCl solutions

The corrosion evolution over time of a carbon steel rotating disk immersed in aerated NaCl solutions was analyzed using a superposition model. Using this approach, partial polarization curves for iron oxidation and oxygen reduction were synthesized from experimental current–potential data at different corrosion time in order to determine the kinetics parameters, corrosion potential and current density of the underlying anodic and cathodic subprocesses. The distinctive features of the polarization curves are well described in terms of the simplifying assumptions of the model. In particular, the time evolution of the corrosion current density was linked to the morphology of the corroding surface under different NaCl concentrations.